Boiler cleaner



Jan. 12, 1937;

L. J. BAYER 2,067,625

BOILER CLEANER Filed Jan. 12, 1955 e Sheets-Sheet 1 Leo J BAYER.

Airroewar.

L. J. BAYER BOILERCLEQNER Jan. 12, 1937.

Filed Jan. 12, 1935 6 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVFNTOE. LEO J 5A r52.

ATV-o ENE)? 1.. J. BAYER BOILER CLEANER Jan. 12, 1937.

Filed Jan. 12, 1935 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 /NVENTOE'- 1.50 J- 5A YEP Hrromvsx Jan. 12, 1937. L, J BA ER 2,067,625

BOILER CLEANER Filed Jan. 12, 1935 GSheets-Sheet 4 hVvEA/roe: LEO J? 8A YEP.

. BY W A'rroENE L. J. BAYER BOILER CLEANER Jan. 12, 1937.-

Filed Jan. 12, 1935 6 Sheets-Sheet 6 //v VENTOE.

LE0 J 5A YER Patented Jan. 12, 1937 UNITED STATES OFFHIE My invention has relation to improvements in boiler cleaners, and it consists in the novel features of construction more fully set forth in the specification and pointed out in the claims.

The invention is primarily directed to that type of boiler cleaner wherein a blower tube, provided with longitudinally disposed nozzles, is disposed across a bank of boiler tubes and arranged for rotation so that steam may be directed to different parts of the boiler to remove deposits from the boiler tubes. That part of the blower containing the valve mechanism for controlling the discharge of steam against the boiler surfaces is generally referred to as the head and has asso- 5 ciated with it mechanism for rotating the blower tube. Heretofore, two types of blowers have been most commonly used, the one having the valve actuating mechanism and the blower rotating mechanism completely separated, requiring two distinct operations by the operator to perform the cleaning of the boiler, and the other having a valve and blower tube actuating mechanism interconnected so that on the operation of one the other will be automatically operated. This second type, sometimes referred to as the automatic valve type, requires for its use but a single operation by the operator.

It is the object of the present invention to provide a boiler cleaner in which the valve actuating mechanism and the blower tube rotating mechanism are independent but at the same time are operated from a single actuating means which is moved in one direction to actuate the valve and in the opposite direction to rotate the blower tube.

The advantage of my improved blower operating means is that the valve may be opened or closed at any time desired and any arc of rotation of the blower tube may be obtained while the valve is fully opened to permit steam to issue from the blower tube for the cleaning of the boiler. A further advantage is that the cleaning efficiency of an independently operated valve blower is obtained without the necessity of a separate actuating means. This simplifies the work of the operator as the entire blowing operation is performed by the manipulation of but a single operating chain. These advantages and 50 their manner of accomplishment will be better apparent from a detailed description of the invention in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a front elevation of my improved 55 boiler cleaner; Fi 2 is a side elevation of the head thereof and the actuating mechanism mounted on said head, the blower tube and steam supply pipe being broken away; Fig. 3 is a vertical, middle, longitudinal section taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1; Figs. 4, 5, 6 and 7 are enlarged horizontal cross-sectional details taken on planes indicated by the lines 44, 5-5, 6-6 and l--1, respectively, in Fig. 3; Fig. 8 is a sectional detail similar to that of Fig. 7 except that the parts are shown in position to open the steam 10 supply valve while in Fig. '7 the parts are shown in position when said valve is closed; Fig. 9 is a vertical, transverse section taken on a plane indicated by the line 9-9 of Fig. 3; Fig. 10 is an enlarged sectional detail of the inner end of the 15 movable stop and cooperating lug fixed on the driving gear for the boiler tube; Fig. 11 is an enlarged horizontal section taken on a plane indicated by the line ll|l in Fig. 3; Fig. 12 is an enlarged vertical, cross-sectional detail taken 20 on a plane indicated by the line l2l2 in Fig.

3; Fig. 13 is a View similar to that of Fig. 12 showing the parts moved through a 90 arc, the first step in the operation of the blower; Fig. 14

is a side elevation of the ratchet wheel shown 25 in Fig. 12 obtained by a projection of said figure; Fig. 15 is also a side elevation of the ratchet wheel shown in Fig. 12, the view being obtained at an angle of 90 from that of Fig. 14; Fig. 16 is a horizontal sectional detail taken on a plane indicated by the line Iii-16 in Fig. 3; Figs. 17 and 18 are plan and side elevations, respectively, of the driving cylinder for the shaft which actuates the blower tube; Fig. 19 is a diagrammatic view of the associated parts showing said parts a for the at rest position of the blower; Fig. 20 is a diagram of the same parts showing their position when the operating chain has been pulled to open the steam valve but before the blower tube has been rotated; Fig. 21 is a diagram of said parts showing their respective positions after the operating chain has been pulled to rotate the blower tube to the end of its blowing arc; Fig. 22 is a diagram of said parts showing their respective positions after the steam valve has been closed and before the blower tube has been restored to its original position; Fig. 23 is a diagram showing said parts during the rotation of the blower tube to its starting position so that it will be in condition for the next subsequent blowing operation; Fig. 24 is a combined side elevation and middle, vertical longitudinal section of a modified form of actuating mechanism embodying the principles of the present invention; Figs. 25, 26 and 27 are vertical, sectional details taken on the planes indicated by the 1ines25-25, 2625 and 2l2'i, respectively, in Fig. 24; Fig. 28 is a. section similar to that shown in Fig. 27, except that the parts have been moved to show the valve stem depressed to open the steam valve; Fig. 29 is a vertical, cross-sectional detail taken on a plane indicated by the line 29-29 in Fig. 23; Fig. 30 is a combined top plan and horizontal section taken on the line 3il-3fi in Fig. '24; Fig. 31 is a vertical, cross-section taken on the line 3l3l in Fig. 24; Fig. 32 is a vertical, cross-sectional detail taken on the line 3232 in Fig. 24; and Fig. 33 is a diagrammatic view of the stop bars showing their association with the operating chain wheel and gear for rotating the blower tube.

Referring to the drawings, B indicates the wall of a boiler on which my improved boiler cleaner is mounted. According to established. practice, a hollow casing l, known as a wall sleeve, is fixed in an opening 0 of the boiler Wall and a supporting member 2 is secured by suitable bolts 3 toa flange 4 formed on the wall sleeve I. The supporting member 2 forms no part of the present application as it forms the subject-matter of a separate application for Letters Patent. However, some means must be provided for supporting the weight of the blower head 5 and bracket 8 mounted thereon for carrying the blower actuating mechanism, which is the subject of the present invention and is about to be described.

The blower head 5 comprises a stufiing box I and a valve casing 8, between which is a steam chamber 9 leading to a short pipe ill, which forms the connection between the steam chamher 9 and blower tube It. The pipe i0 is rotat- -ab1y mounted in the stuffing box 7 and a confining flange l2 depends from the bracket 6. In order that the joint between the rotatable pipe H1 and stufiing box l' shall be steam-tight, suitable packing i3 is held in the stuiiing box I by means of a gland M. The head 5 is provided with a plain surface 15 above the stuffing box 1, on which the bracket 5 is securely held by means of suitable bolts 86, and a flange H is provided below the valve casing 8, to which is secured a second flange l 8 in which the steam supply pipe i9 is threaded. A steam supply valve Zll is slidably mounted within the valve casing 8, and when in its closed position fits tightly on the valve seat 2i and has a stem 22 projecting upwardly through the top 23 of the valve casing, a coiled spring 24 being disposed over the stem 22 in engagement with an adjustable nut 25 thereon for the purpose of continually urging the steam upwardly in order to close said valve. The specific construction of the valve is of no importance so far as the present invention is concerned and will, therefore, not be described in further detail. The short pipe ii) and blower tube H are secured together by means of a combined gear 26 and coupling member 2?, within the respective hubs 28 and 29 of which are threads to receive the threaded extremities 39 and 35 of said gear and coupling member.

Bolts 32 are passed through openings 33 and 34 evenly spaced around the hubs of the gear 26 and coupling member Zl, and nuts 35 are tightly screwed on the threaded ends of the bolts to securely fix said gear and coupling member together in order that they may operate as a unit, and at the same time couple the short pipe in and blower tube H to each other and to the gear 26. Bearings 36 and 3"? project upwardly from the ends of the bracket 6 and a shaft 38 is rotatably mounted in said bearings, the inner end of said shaft having a pinion 39 fixed on it, which pinion engages with gear 26 and serves to drive the same. shaft 88 projecting forwardly of the bearing 35 has mounted on it the actuating mechanism for both the valve 29 and blower tube ii. As we shall see in the description of the operation of the invention to follow, the pinion 32 and, of course, gear 25 are always rotated in the same direction, and in order to prevent accidental rotation in the wrong direction, when other parts of the blower are operated, a dog at is mounted on the inner projection 37 of bearing 37, the nose d of said dog engaging the teeth of the gear 25 as shown (Fig. 9) to permit said gear to rotate 'only'in one direction. Since the valve 20 must first be opened before the blower tube H can function, the mechanism whereby this valve is actuated must first be described.

A driving cylinder or disk 39 is fixed on the outerend of shaft 38 and a chain wheel 40 is rotatably mounted on said disk 39'. A ratchet wheel 5! (Figs. 5 and 12 to 15, inc.) is loosely mounted on the shaft 38 immediately inside the chain wheel 32 and in close proximity thereto so moimted on a pin 22 fixed to the chain wheel 48. The pawl 53 is held in contact with the periphery of the ratchet wheel M by a coiled spring 35, one end of which'is secured to the flange 16 of, the chain wheel, and the other-end secured to the back of the pawl d3 near the nose 63' thereof.

Immediately adjacent to the hub M of ratchet wheel 4! and loosely mounted on the shaft 38 is a second ratchet wheel 59 having four evenly spaced teeth 58 with which is integrally formed an elongated cam 59 having oppositely disposed flat faces 52,- 52, which form the low sides of the cam, and oppositely disposed fiat faces 53, 53 at right angles to the faces 52, which form the high sides of the cam. A pawl 5 is mounted on a pin 55 projecting from a boss 55, said pawl being disposed so as to engage the teeth 52 of the ratchet wheel 49. The cam 5| lever 51 is interposed between valve stem 22 and cam 5E. The opposite end of the lever is pivotally mounted on a laterally extending bracket 58 projecting from the bearing member 36, said lever 57 being pivoted on a pin 59, the

is positioned above the valve stem 22 and the outer end of a The end of the' that its teeth 22 may be engaged by a pawl 43 the pawl 52 in engagement with ratchet wheel 49 will also rotate this ratchet wheel and cam 5|, which forms an integral part thereof. As the cam 53! rotates from the position shown in Fig. '7 to the position shown in Fig. 8 the lever 5'! slides through but 90 is suflicient to open the valve, at which time the rotation must be arrested. Suitable stop mechanism is provided for effecting the arrest of the valve actuating parts when the valve is fully opened. This stop mechanism comprises a rod 62 slidably mounted in openings 63 and S t in the bracket member 5. The opening 63 is rectangular in shape to receive the flat terminal 65 on the outer end of rod 52, and the opening 64 has an enlarged cylindrical portion 56 to receive the terminal piece 57 and a coiled spring 68 nested between said terminal piece and shoulder 69 at the bottom of socket 66. The purpose of the spring 68 is to continually urge the rod 62 inwardly toward the gear wheel 2%. The upper end of valve stem 22 passes through a lug 10 projecting forwardly from the bracket 6, on which the terminal 65 of rod 62 rests. Since the stem 22 must also pass through said terminal 65 in order to bear against lever 5'! disposed thereabove, said terminal 65 is provided with a slot Ii to accommodate the valve stem and also to allow the rod 62 to slide backward and forward in a manner that will be described.

The ratchet wheel 4! has L-shaped lugs 12 and 13 projecting laterally from it, said lugs being spaced angularly slightly more than 90, and the extremities i2 and 73 of the lugs rotating along an arc (when the ratchet wheel 4| is rotated) intersecting the end of lug l0 projecting forwardly from the bracket 8. Thus the rotation of the ratchet wheel H is limited to an arc of 90, since 'lug 12 will strike the lug 0 at one end of said rotation arc and the lug 13 will strike the lug 70 at the other end of the rotation arc.

When lug 12 is in engagement with the lug T0 the valve will be closed and the blower tube at its position of rest, or the valve may be open and the blower tube in its position after having just completed the blowing operation, as will be more definitely explained in the description of the operation of the invention.

A flange 14 extends along an arcuate path from lug 53 toward lug 72 and encompasses an angle of slightly more than 90, said flange having an inwardly turned cam surface 15, the forward edge 15 of which is inclined. A pin Tl projects upwardly from terminal 65 of rod 62 and is in operative engagement with the cam surfaces 75 and T6. The purpose of the cam surface 76 is to draw the rod 62 outwardly, and the purpose of the cam surface 15 is to hold the same in such position so that the terminal piece 61 at the inner end of rod 62 may be released from stop members l8 and it fixed in the gear 26, which stop members determine the arc of rotation of said gear and, of course, the blower tube I I. This will also become better apparent in the subsequent description of the operation of the invention.

The driving mechanism for actuating the blower tube H will now be described. The driving disk 39', as above stated, is fixed (in the present instance-keyed) to the shaft 38 and has a recess 8%) opening on its periphery, in which re cess is pivotally mounted a driving dog ill, the nose 82 of which is forced outwardly beyond the periphery of the disk 35 by spring pressed pin 83 which is lodged together with a coiled spring 84 in a socket 85 opening into the recess 80. The nose 82 of the dog 8i engages internal ratchet teeth 86 formed within hub 8'? of the chain wheel 40.

The inside of the disk 39 is provided with a flange 88 against which hub 87 is held by means the outside of said chain) the teeth 86 will engage the dog 8|, carrying said dog around with the chain wheel and, of course, rotating the driving disk 39' and shaft 38 on which it is fixed. When the chain wheel 40 is rotated in a counterclockwise direction the teeth 89 thereof will idle over the dog 8i so that driving disk 30' and shaft 38 will not be rotated.

The complete blowing operation of my improved boiler cleaner may best be described by reference to the diagrams shown in Figs. 19 to 23, inclusive. These diagrams show, reading each figure from left to right, the chain wheel it with its internally formed ratchet associated with the driving disk for the blower tube, the valve and stop actuating ratchet, together with the cam for operating the valve, the cam and associated rod 523 or stop bar actuated thereby, and the blower tube driving gear and pinion therefor.

In Fig. 19 the parts shown in their respective positions when the blower is at rest. It will be observed that the valve cam 5! is in its horizontal position so that the valve stem 22 will be raised to allow the valve 20 (not shown in the diagram) to be seated and the cam surfaces ?5 and 76 are withdrawn from the pin ll to allow the stop bar 62 to move to the right, at which time the terminal piece 03 is in the path of and forms an abutment for the stop member '58 projecting from gear 26.

It is, therefore, impossible for the operator to pull on the right-hand side of chain 6! as a clockwise rotation of the chain wheel 40 would tend to rotate the gear 26 counter-clockwise. The operator can, therefore, only pull on the lefthand side of chain 6! to rotate chain wheel A0 in a counter-clockwise direction, as shown in the diagram Fig. 20. When the Wheel it is rotated in this direction the pawl 43 engages a tooth 42 of ratchet 4i, causing the ratchet to rotate with the chain wheel. When the ratchet at has rotated through an angle of 90 the cam 5! has also rotated through an angle of 90 and the valve stem 22 has been depressed to open the valve. At the same time the cam surface if has forced the stop bar 62 to th left and the pin is resting on the cam surface 15. This movement of the stop bar 62 withdraws the terminal member 67 from the path of the stop 78 so that the gear 26 will now be free to rotate in the direction of the arrow (Fig. 20). The rotation of the ratchet H and chain wheel 50 are arrested at the end of the 90 are by the engagement of lug '13 with the terminal 65 of bar 62. It is thus impossible for the operator to rotate the parts beyond the point at which the valve is fully opened. However, up to this time the blower tube has not moved. In order to rotate the blower tube the operator must noW pull on the right-hand side of chain 6! to rotate the chain wheel '30 in a clockwise direction. When the chain wheel 40 is rotated in this direction the internal ratchet teeth 86 will engage with the dog 8i, carrying the dog and the driving disk 39' around with the chain wheel 40. Of course, the shaft 38 and pinion 39 will also be rotated because the driving disk 39' is keyed to said shaft.

Since the stop bar 62 has been released from the stop IS the gear 26 will now be driven by the pinion 39 in a counter-clockwise direction to effect a rotation of the blower tube II. As we have seen, the valve 20 has previously been opened so that while the blower tube II rotates steam will be discharging from it to clean the boiler tubes throughout the entire arc of rotation of the blower tube. This are of rotation is determined by a second stop I9 spaced a predetermined distance from the stop I8 as determined by the arrangement of the boiler tubes. It is understood, of course, that the spacing of the stops l3 and I9 depends entirely upon the type of boiler and may be varied at will to suit any special type of boiler.

Continuing with our description and referring again to Fig. 21, during the first 90 of the rotation of the chain wheel 40 in a clockwise direction, the ratchet wheel 4| will be carried around with the chain wheel 40 under the pressure of the pawl 53 exerted by the tension of spring 35. During this 90 rotation of the ratchet disk GI the cam surfaces 15 and 16 will move back to their original position (Fig. 19) to allow the stop bar to be forced to the right by the action of spring 08 (Fig. 10) so that the terminal 61 will again come in the path of the stops I8 and I9 so that the rotation of the chain wheel. 40 in a clockwise direction can be continued only until the stop I9 impinges on the terminal 61. At this time the blower tube has been rotated through its complete blowing arc and the cleaning operation is finished. I

The operator must now close the valve 20, and since he can no longer pull on the right-hand side of the chain 0| he must again pull on the lefthand side of the chain to rotate the chain wheel 00 in a counter-clockwise direction, as shown in Fig. 22. During this rotation the ratchet M is rotated with the chain wheel 40 by engagement of the pawl 93 with one of the teeth 42, of the ratchet ll, and the pawl 5d engaging the fourtoothed ratchet 49 rotates this ratchet and also cam 5| until the cam is in the position shown (Fig. 22) and the valve stem 22 is allowed to raise and the valve 20 to seat. The are of rota tion is again limited to 90 by the engagement of stop 13 with terminal 65 of bar 02 and the bar has again been moved to the left by the cam surface I9 and is in the position shown (Fig. 22). The terminal 6! of the bar 62 has now been withdrawn from the path of the stop I0 so that the gear 26 will be free to rotate. This rotation is again effected by pulling on the righthand side of the chain 6i, and during the first 90 of the rotation of the wheel 40 the ratchet All will also be rotated to withdraw the cam surfaces 75 and F6 from the pin H and allow the stop bar 92 to again move to the right so that the terminal 6'] will again be in the path of stop I8. As the operator continues to pull on the right-hand chain 6| the gear 20 will continue to rotate until the stop I8 impinges against the terminal member Bl when the gear 28 comes to rest and the blower tube II is in its normal starting position for the next subsequent blowing operation.

From the foregoing it is apparent that the operation of my improved soot blower is foolproof. It is impossible for the operator to operate the parts in any manner except that as described. This insures that the steam supply valve 20 will always be opened first and the blower tube II will only be rotated after the valve has been fully opened and the blower tube cannot be restored to its at rest position until after the valve has been fully closed. Even if the operator, after closing the valve, should neglect to restore the blower tube II to its fully closed position this must be done before the next blowing operation can be performed. Thus, there is a definite cycle of operations which must be performed in regular order.

In Figs. 24 to 32, inclusive, I show a modification of the invention in which a clutch is substituted for the internal ratchet and driving disk of the main form and two stop bars are utilized instead of one, which stop bars are controlled by a cam carried by the lever which depresses the valve stem. Thus, when the valve stem is depressed to open the valve the stop bar which prevents the blower tube from rotating is simultawheel M except that it has no corresponding.

flange I i, and. the cam IEiI is actuated by mechanism similar to that which actuates cam 5|. Instead of the flange i l with its cam faces I5 and "E5, the modified device (shown in Figs. 24 to 32, inc.) is provided with a cam block I02 having oppositely disposed inclined faces I03 and I04, said block I02 being formed on the end of one side I05 of a U-shaped lever I06 pivotally mounted on a pin I0? disposed in the end of an arm I08 projecting from the bracket member 6'. I09 of the U-shaped lever I06 corresponds to the lever 5'! of the main form of the invention and serves to depress the valve stem 22. The stop bars H0 and III are mounted in openings 0, 0 formed in the end of bracket 6' and also openings s, s in a separate bracket H2. The ends of the bars I I0 and I I I adjacent to the cam block 02 are provided with inclined faces H3 and I Hi, respectively, for engagement with the inclined faces I03 and I94 of the cam block I02. The opposite ends of the stop bars H0 and III are provided with inclined faces H5 and II 6, respectively, for engagement with inclined faces I I! and IE8 of stop members II 9 and I20 on gear wheel 26'. The hub I2I of chain wheel 40 is provided with an outwardly presented clutch member I22 for cooperation with clutch member I29 formed on collar I24 keyed to shaft 38. There is 90 of play between the clutch members i222 and I23 so that the chain wheel 40' may be rotated 90 to the left to actuate the valve 20 by depressing the stem 22 without imparting any motion to the shaft 38. It will be remembered from the description of the main form that the valve is opened by the rotation 'of the cam I OI which depresses the U-shaped lever I06. which, of course, moves the cam block I02 downwardly to withdraw the inclined face 503 from the inclined face H3 and release the stop bar I I0 so that it may be moved forwardly or away from gear 26' (see diagram Fig. 33).

When the chain wheel has been moved through an angle of 90, the stop I25 will engage lug I20 projecting from bracket member 6 to prevent further rotation of the hand wheel and, of course, cam IOI. The 90 of play between clutch members E22 and I23 permits this rotation of the wheel 40 to open the valve without imparting any motion to shaft 38' or blower tube H. The operator may now manipulate the operating chain to rotate the wheel 40 in the op- The side posite direction, the first 90 of which rotation takes up the play between clutch members !22 and I23, and stop i225 impinges on lug I26 to arrest further rotation of ratchet wheel i053. A continuation of the rotation of chain wheel 40 causes rotation of shaft 38 to also impart rotation to gear Since the outer end of stop bar HG has been released from the engagement with cam block 62, the stop member M5 on the gear 25 will slide this stop bar Hi1 forwardly as it moves past the inclined face H5 at the end thereof. As the same block H32 moves downwardly to release stop bar iiil, the inclined face lil l thereof will engage inclined face H4 of stop bar i i i, forcing the bar 5 ll backwardly into the path of stop 28 on gear wheel 25 so that as the operator continues to rotate the chain wheel iii in the direction to also rotate the blow er tube i i, the stop iEU will approach the end of stop bar i i i and finally impinge against the same to arrest any further rotation of the gear 26 and blower tube ii. The complete blowing arc has now been traversed and the next operation is, of course, to close the valve.

This is done in the same manner that the valve is opened, namely, by rotating the chain wheel :16 in the direction indicated by the arrow (Fig. 25) which also rotates the ratchet wheel led and cam idi to restore the valve stem 22 and lever arm 5 {is to the position shown in Fig. 26. As the lever arm see is restored to this position the arm I85 is also raised to move the cam block it? upwardly, causing the bar ii to he slid toward the gear 2E5, and to allow the bar 5 i l to be moved by stop member 5253 forwardly to. permit said stop to pass end MS of stop bar iii. The valve now having been closed the operator again rotates the hand wheel in a clockwise direction to rotate -the gear wheel until stop Hi9 again impinges on the end of stop bar i i at which time the blower has been restored to its at rest position.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. A boiler cleaner comprising a soot blower tube, a steam supply pipe, a valve between said supply pipe and tube for controlling the flow of steam to said. tube, mechanism for actuating the valve, mechanism for rotating the blower tube,

- a single rotatory means for operating the valve actuating mechanism and the tube rotating mechanism, means associated with said rotatory means effective on the valve operating mechanism only when said rotatory means is rotated in one direction, and means associated with the rotatory means effective on the tube rotating mechanism only when said rotatory means is rotated in the reverse direction.

2. A boiler cleaner comprising a soot blower tube, a steam supply pipe, a valve between said supply pipe and tube for controlling the flow of steam to said tube, mechanism for actuating the valve, mechanism for rotating the blower tube, a single rotatory means for operating the valve actuating mechanism and the tube rotating mecha nism, means associated with said rotatory means eifective on the valve operating mechanism only when said rotatory means is rotated in one direction, means associated with the rotatory means effective on the tube rotating mechanism only when said rotatory means is rotated in the reverse direction, and a stop device cooperating with the tube rotating mechanism to confine the movement of the tube to a definite arc, and means actuated in synchronism with the valve actuating mechanism for releasing said stop device from the tube rotating mechanism.

3. A boiler cleaner comprising a soot blower tube, a steam supply pipe, a valve between said supply pipe and tube for controlling the flow of steam to said tube, mechanism for actuating the Valve, mechanism for rotating the blower tube, a single rotary means for independently operating the valve operating mechanism and the tube rotating mechanism, a stop device operatively associated with the blower tube to confine the rotation thereof to a predetermined arc, and means actuated in synchronism with the Valve operating mechanism for moving said stop device to release the blower tube from the confinement of said are.

l. A boiler cleaner comprising a soot blower tube, a steam supply pipe, a valve between said supply pipe and tube for controlling the flow of steam to said tube, mechanism for actuating the valve, mechanism for rotating the blower tube, a single rotatory means for operating the valve actuating mechanism and the tube rotating mechanism, means associated with said rotatory means effective on the valve operating mechanism only when said rotatory means is rotated in one direction, means associated with the rotatory means effective on the tube rotating mechanism only when said rotatory means is rotated in the reverse direction, and a stop device interposed between the blower tube and rotating mechanism therefor to confine the movement of said tube to a predetermined arc, and means actuated in synchronism with the valve actuating mechanism to withdraw said stop device from such interposition.

5. A boiler cleaner comprising a soot blower tube, a steam supply pipe, a valve between said supply pipe and tube for controlling the flow of steam to said tube, mechanism for actuating the valve, mechanism including a gear for rotating the blower tube, a single rotatory means for independently operating the valve operating mechanism and the tube rotating mechanism, spaced lugs on said gear, a reciprocable stop member disposed in the path of travel of said lugs, means for holding said stop member in said path, and means actuated in synchronism with the valve actuating mechanism for moving said stop member out of the path of said lugs.

6. A boiler cleaner comprising a soot blower tube, a steam supply pipe, a valve between said supply pipe and tube for controlling the flow of steam to said tube, mechanism for actuating the valve, mechanism for rotating the blower tube, an operating wheel, driving means between the wheel and blower tube rotating mechanism, said driving means being effective on rotation of operating wheel in one direction, an oscillating member between the wheel and valve actuating mechanism, said oscillating member being effective on the valve operating mechanism on rotation of operating wheel in the opposite direction, a movable stop device for engagement with the tube rotating mechanism, and means on the oscillating member for controlling the movement of the stop device into and out of engagement with the tube rotating mechanism.

7. In a soot blower comprising a rotatable blower tube, a steam supply pipe, a valve between the tube and supply pipe, and an operating head for the valve and blower tube, said operating head comprising means for operating the valve, means for rotating the blower tube, and a single actuating wheel associated with both the valve operating means and blower rotating means,

mechanism for coupling the wheel and valve operating means when the wheel is rotated in one direction, and mechanism for coupling the wheel and blower rotating means when the wheel is operated in the opposite direction, locking means effective on the blower tube to prevent 

